Slimy Vatican tactics at the UN

If you thought Pope Francis changed everything, think again. The U.N. is looking into the, you know, child-raping that Catholic priests engage in without ever facing legal consequences.

The link leads to a BBC story about a UN panel that demanded answers from the "Holy See", in the person of Archbishop Tomasi. Just listen to the responses made by the Vatican rep:

At the Geneva hearing, CRC member Sara Oviedo said: "The Holy See has not established any mechanism to investigate those accused of perpetrating sexual abuse, nor to prosecute them."

Another question from the panel asked why the Vatican continued to describe abuse as an offence against morals rather than a crime against children.

"Does the Holy See believe that paedophilia is something that can be successfully overcome?" was another question.

"To prevent abuse of minors is a real, immediate concern," Archbishop Tomasi said.

On prosecution of offenders, he said priests were "not functionaries of the Vatican but citizens of their countries and fall under the jurisdiction of their own countries".

When asked if the Vatican would hand over Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a Polish papal envoy recalled from the Dominican Republic in September amid claims of sexual abuse there, Archbishop Tomasi said he was being investigated by the Vatican's own prosecutors.

A member of the CRC asked about the Church's practice of moving priests suspected of abuse.

"The question of what I would call offender mobility is of great concern," said Bishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican's former chief prosecutor of clerical sexual abuse. "It is a no-go simply to move people from one diocese to another... That is policy that has to be followed."

Every one of those responses is craven. It's like the Vatican thinks there is nothing to apologize for, nothing to fix, no reason to invite criminal investigation of the rapes. Hey, Pope Francis: new leaf, my ass -- or rather, the kids' asses. The church sounds like the goddamn mafia -- or some lowlife firm hired to defend the GOP.

These aren't the responses of "moral" people. They're excuses and prevarications that make no sense and have no reality at their core. The church is doing absolutely nothing to stop the child-raping proclivities of its priests. And they don't believe they're responsible for any of it. Not. One. Thing.

Hey, pope Frankie, either you get real or some legal entity needs to figure out how to jail the thousands of priests that you're protecting. And then you need to hold massive meetings at the "Holy See" to try and figure out if any of you have a clue what the word "morality" means. Good luck with that.

The beat goes on

When I read this, I wasn't surprised.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Calls for Bishop Robert Finn's resignation intensified a day after he became the highest-ranking U.S. church official to be convicted of a crime related to the child sexual abuse scandal. 

(snip)

Through the decades-long abuse scandal, only one U.S. bishop has stepped down over his failures to stop abusive clergy: Cardinal Bernard Law, who in 2002 resigned as head of the Archdiocese of Boston [and was sent to prison for decades and was promoted to a cushy job at the Vatican for his efforts].

So, was Bishop Finn sent to the hoosegow for his transgressions? Of course not.

Jackson County Judge John M. Torrence sentenced Finn to two years of supervised probation. If the bishop abides by a set of stipulations from the judge, the conviction will be wiped from his record in 2014. 

They never suffer real repercussions -- and the beat goes on.

(Much better version of this story at the Times this morning.)

Foolishness seen in HuffPo

The popey guy.

Once in a while I read HuffPo's religion page, just for laughs. So what did I find there today? This gem:

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Europe's economic and financial crisis is the consequence of an "ethical crisis" and a "crisis of faith," Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday (Dec. 22), resulting in the triumph of selfishness over social responsibility.

Can you believe this popey guy? He literally engineers the massive cover-up of the priest-rape scandal for the selfish reason of wanting to protect his church -- and then has the nerve to talk about "the triumph of selfishness over social responsibility." It's mind-boggling. And these people will tell you that they own morality.

And what is the cure he suggests for this selfishness? Why, faith of course. Faith in what? The child-raping priests! These people have no irony filters. None.

Popey guy tries to hide the salami

The popey guy can't get away with it anymore. Those days are over. From an article in the NYT today:

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI insisted on Saturday that all of society's institutions and not just the Catholic church must be held to "exacting" standards in their response to sex abuse of children, and defended the church's efforts to confront the problem.

But the Times didn't let it lie there and that's what's so great. The church can no longer rape children and lie about the facts with impunity. The article includes a direct response to the popey guy's attempted sleight-of-hand:

He didn't address accusations by many victims and their advocates that church leaders, including at the office in the Vatican that Benedict headed before becoming pontiff, systematically tried to cover up the scandals. Investigations, often by civil authorities, revealed that church hierarchy frequently transferred pedophile priests from one parish to another. [Emphasis mine.]

The church is now known for its actions rather than its words, and it's about time. The roman catholic church is a criminal enterprise. Short and sweet. And the popey guy honcho'd the worst of the worst behavior for the church. He is evil.